The NHRA Toyota Nationals opened on Thursday with Lucas Oil action. Two of the three qualified classes which raced The Strip at Las Vegas completed qualifying.

Back at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend, Stock racer B.J. Graham was the No. 1 qualifier and class winner while racing her Mustang II in the U/Stock Automatic division. This weekend, she stepped up to T/Stock Automatic with the same results.

The Lucas Oil- Fun In the Sun championship bracket race, a tribute to Scott Weney, will be held at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Nov. 10th-12th. 

 
There is a new champion at the Mickey Thompson Tires Million Dollar Drag Race and his name is John Ezell. Known to his friends as “Johnny Bracket Racer”, Ezell, of Ventress, La., defeated “Racin’ Jason” Lynch in the final round. Ezell earned $325,000 for the win. In an all-dragster final, Ezell was first off the starting line, .003 to .015 and held on for the win in a double breakout. Ezell drove to a 4.879 on his 4.89 dial while Lynch was further under his 4.56 dial with a 4.539.
 

Be sure to watch competition at the NHRA All American Hot Rod Reunion, part of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and the NHRA North Central Division.

The VP Racing Fuels NMCA West Drag Racing Series championship season concluded with the completion of the 6th Annual Mickey Thompson NMCA West Coast World Finals at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, California, October 13-15. NMCA West championships were on the line, as racers pulled out all of the stops while battling major winds that caused many of the classes to be run at the eighth-mile race distance. In addition to the straight-line action, the Hotchkis Auto X presented by Nitto Tire put on a great show as always, with many of the drivers competing for the Hotchkis Grand Champion award.

In ProCharger Outlaw Street competition, Johnny Coleman led qualifying with 4.571 elapsed time at 159.55 mph, and he would improve on that with a 4.56, but in the final round, it was Tom Marshall taking the win and the trip to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle with a hole-shot victory over Lafayette Williams, 5.121 to 5.119.

 
Todd Bruce, Doug Gordon, and Thomas Marlow all scored final round victories Sunday evening during the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex.
 
Bruce, of Horace, N.D., pulled the upset in Top Alcohol Dragster final round as he attained the starting line advantage, powering his dragster to 5.260 seconds, 275.96 mph, upsetting #1 qualifier Megan Meyer, Olathe, Kan. Meyer had mechanical issues and coasted to 7.110 seconds,141.80 mph.

David Rampy and Jeffrey Barker each clinched NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series World Championships this weekend at Silver Dollar Raceway and the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event.

Rampy, Piedmont, Ala., outran the Comp Eliminator class taking the win and the championship in knocking out Chuck Haubiel in the final round.  It was close at the start but Rampy had the power to out run Haubiel with a 7.248 second, 166.60 mph run to Haubiel’s 8.192, 160.92.   The win increased Rampy’s points total to 699 putting him out of reach of all others competitors and giving him the Lucas Oil World Championship.

Any racer will tell you that seat time in a race car is the best way to hone your skills in the cockpit, but even then, many racers will spend decades making passes down the dragstrip and still come up short in their quest to score a victory at an NHRA national event.

However, that certainly wasn’t the case for Evan Kowalski, who at 20 years old piloted his 2005 Spitzer Corvette roadster to his first career victory during this year’s Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals in Sonoma, Calif.

There's the absurd and then there's the World Power Wheelstand championships at Byron Dragway. For $10,000, some of drag racing's most over the edge competitors converge on the legendary drag strip outside of Chicago to determine who can drag the bumper the best. Some do, some don't and some even leave the bumper on the track. Go behind the scenes to hear why they do what they do. 

Auto Club Famoso Raceway captured the team championship while the husband and wife team of C.W. and Sacha Hoefer each grabbed wins at this weekend’s NHRA Pacific Division Summit Racing Series Championships.  The Hoefers will be joined by Katelyn Whynaught, Ryan Mangus, and Rick Newport in advancing to the NHRA Summit National Championship at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in November.
 
Sunday’s Summit Showdown final round produced three of the four winners from California. Sacha Hoefer of Calimesa, booked her trip to Pomona by outlasting Tim Arnswalf of Indio, Calif.,  in the Sportsman final round. Hoefer recorded a victory pass of 12.182 seconds, 103.57 mph.